Increasing Costs Of Operation Under the N. R. A. codes and the difficulty of borrowing additional working capital from commercial banks have led to a mounting volume of complaint from small business men That the recovery program is working to their disadvantage. Senator Nye (R., N. D.), who in December, with Senator Borah (R., Ida.), directed the attention of Recovery Administrator Johnson and President Roosevelt to this problem, asserted at the hearing on administration and improvement of the codes on February 27 that as a result of his action he had received more than 18,000 communications presenting the problems of small business units. In an effort, to afford protection to small enterprises against oppression and monopolistic practices by larger concerns, Johnson on February 19 announced the creation of a National Recovery Review Board, under the chairmanship of Clarence Darrow.

In Senator Borah's view, the suspension of the anti-trust law, for which provision was made in the National Industrial Recovery Act, was not necessary to the proper functioning of the Recovery Administration, for agreements of industry to maintain fair competition were not prohibited by the anti-trust legislation. Since, in his opinion, the suspension of the antitrust laws has permitted unfair competition and monopolistic practices detrimental to small business, he has introduced a bill to reinstate these laws in full force and effect,

Roosevelt on Small Business and the Anti-Trust Laws

The importance of the anti-trust laws in protecting small business was emphasized by President Roosevelt in his speech opening the general conference of code authorities on March 6. “Many years ago,” the President said, “anti-trust laws were passed and one of the primary reasons for their enactment was the protection of the little fellow against the big fellow,” In many cases, however, small business men were not protected by the laws, and this state of affairs should not be allowed to continue. “The essential provisions of the codes should check or reverse competitive methods by which the small business man was or is being squeezed out.”